untitled (Tule Lake: highway monument)

Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, artist

1920–2012

untitled (Tule Lake: highway monument), date unknown

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: collage; ballpoint pen; colored pencil; photography; photocopying; offset print; paper

Credit line: Collection of Linda Hattendorf, Taos, New Mexico

Accession number: EL2024.121

On display: Simons Gallery

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani

Many of Mirikitani’s Tule Lake images share a strikingly similar composition and recurring motifs: long rows of barracks, often with a rabbit and sagebrush in the foreground; Castle Rock (sometimes Abalone Mountain) and a looming red sun; and Mount Shasta in the distance. These repetitions suggest the lasting impact of incarceration on the artist. A closer look, however, reveals subtle yet significant variations, especially after his participation in the Tule Lake Pilgrimage in 2002—his first visit in nearly 50 years.